A 24-year-old Wisconsin woman who disappeared after her family heard her pleading for her life on a phone call was found dead in a wooded area across the state line in Michigan, police said, and her boyfriend is being held in Minnesota after a high-speed chase as investigators wait on autopsy results before deciding what charges to seek.
Authorities identified the woman as Gabriella Cartagena, who lived in Marinette and left behind a 3-year-old daughter, relatives said. Investigators said Cartagena was last seen Feb. 4 at Red Arrow Park in Marinette with her boyfriend, Robert Chilcote, 29, the last person known to have been with her. Police said the case quickly widened into a multistate investigation involving agencies in Wisconsin, Michigan and Minnesota as detectives tracked video, cellphone data and witness accounts to rebuild Cartagena’s last known movements.
Cartagena’s family reported her missing the next day, after a phone call with her mother in which they said they heard Cartagena say, “Please don’t shoot me. I’m sorry.” Police Chief Jon LaCombe said the call came in at 7:19 p.m. Feb. 4 while Cartagena was speaking with her mother. Loved ones told investigators they believed she had been at Red Arrow Park with Chilcote. Two witnesses later told police they heard arguing around the time Cartagena disappeared, investigators said.
When officers went to the park after the missing person report was filed Feb. 5, they “immediately recognized it as a potential crime scene,” LaCombe said. Investigators said the park was snow-covered, but they found what appeared to be blood and signs of a disturbance that suggested something violent may have happened. Police said the area of concern was the Bird Street entry to Red Arrow Park. Detectives began working the site as a crime scene, searching the ground and nearby brush and looking for any evidence left behind in the snow.
Authorities said their early break came through a mix of surveillance footage and digital data. LaCombe said investigators gathered camera video that showed a vehicle going in and out of the park, which helped establish a time frame. Detectives then expanded outward, collecting video from homes and businesses and comparing it with cellphone information to track Chilcote’s movements after Cartagena was last seen. LaCombe said investigators were able to follow a path that ran from Red Arrow Park through parts of Marinette and into Menominee, Michigan, a city just across the border.
Police said video helped place the vehicle leaving the park and moving through town, including footage near the Birch Street Boat Launch and along Ogden Street. Other cameras, including those on residential and business properties, later placed Chilcote in Menominee, LaCombe said. Menominee law enforcement then tracked the vehicle going north out of the city and returning about 20 minutes later, investigators said. That window, combined with cell tower information, helped narrow where detectives searched for Cartagena.
The search ended Feb. 10, when authorities discovered Cartagena’s body in a wooded area off Birch Creek Road in Menominee County, Michigan, police said. The location is a rural stretch of road near the border region where dense trees and winter conditions can make searches difficult. Authorities have not publicly described visible injuries or released a cause of death, saying the autopsy results will guide next steps. LaCombe said investigators planned to provide the autopsy findings to the district attorney for a charging decision.
Chilcote was named a person of interest as investigators tried to confirm exactly what happened at the park and in the hours that followed. Police said he was taken into custody Feb. 5 in Wright County, Minnesota, after leading authorities on a 16-minute chase that reached 100 mph. Authorities said the pursuit ended when Chilcote lost control of the vehicle while attempting to avoid tire-deflating stop sticks. LaCombe said several firearms were found in the car. Officials have not said whether any weapon found in Minnesota is connected to Cartagena’s death.
Chilcote is being held on a $100,000 bond and faces charges of fleeing and eluding and being a fugitive from another state, authorities said. He has not been charged in connection with Cartagena’s disappearance or death, police said, and investigators have not announced whether they believe the killing was planned or the result of a sudden dispute. District Attorney DeShea Morrow said authorities were waiting on autopsy findings before determining what charges, if any, should be filed in the death investigation, according to statements relayed by police.
The case has unfolded across multiple jurisdictions, with investigators working near the Wisconsin-Michigan border while the person of interest remained in custody hundreds of miles away. Police said extradition steps are being reviewed, with paperwork moving through the governors’ offices of the states involved. Marinette detectives traveled to Minnesota to interview Chilcote, but investigators declined to describe what he said or whether he cooperated beyond the interview. LaCombe said investigators did not find information showing ties that would explain why Chilcote was in Minnesota.
Authorities have not publicly announced a motive, and they have not said whether Cartagena and Chilcote had a history of domestic violence calls or earlier incidents. Police said the couple lived together in Marinette but did not have children together. Cartagena had one child from a previous relationship, authorities and relatives said. Investigators have also not said whether anyone else was present at the park or whether the argument reported by witnesses involved the couple or other people in the area.
Red Arrow Park became the center of the investigation because it is where Cartagena was last known to be and where police said they found evidence consistent with violence. The park sits along the Menominee River and Lake Michigan shoreline area and is frequented year-round, though winter snow can conceal or preserve evidence in different ways. Investigators said the snow-covered scene still showed disturbance, and detectives treated the entry point as critical to reconstructing Cartagena’s final known moments. Police have not disclosed whether they recovered clothing, personal items or other evidence that could determine how Cartagena left the park.
Investigators said community assistance played a major role in pulling together a timeline, as officers sought doorbell camera video, business footage and tips from people who may have seen the couple or their vehicle. “Community members stepped forward, providing video footage, sharing information, and reporting tips,” LaCombe said in a statement released through local reporting. Police said that cooperation helped investigators map the route from the park into Wisconsin neighborhoods and across the border to Menominee.
The investigation involved the Marinette Police Department, Marinette County Sheriff’s Office, Menominee Police Department, Menominee County Sheriff’s Office, Wright County Sheriff’s Office in Minnesota and the Marinette County District Attorney’s Office, police said. Such coordination can be critical in cases where suspected movement crosses county and state lines, because evidence, witnesses and surveillance footage may sit in different jurisdictions with different rules for records and process. Officials have not said whether federal agencies are involved.
Residents in Marinette described the case as a blow to a community that sees itself as close-knit. Tom Maxwell, a Marinette resident interviewed by local media, said the community shared in the grief and disappointment. “I think it’s terrible,” Maxwell said, calling the death a tragedy. Police have not said whether they plan additional public briefings before autopsy results are finalized and reviewed by prosecutors.
Cartagena’s relatives said they were planning a candlelight vigil as friends and family gathered support around her child and funeral costs. Police have not released details about the timing or location of any vigil, and authorities urged anyone with information about Cartagena’s last known movements to speak with investigators. Detectives said they still want to understand the full sequence between the last confirmed sighting at the park and the discovery of Cartagena’s body several days later.
As of Monday, investigators said the case remained active and centered on completing the autopsy review and presenting findings to prosecutors. Chilcote remained in Minnesota custody on fleeing and fugitive-related allegations, and authorities said the next major milestone will be a charging decision after the district attorney evaluates the autopsy results and the evidence collected from Red Arrow Park and the border-area search zone.
Author note: Last updated February 17, 2026.